Wireless communication networks typically include wireless access systems with equipment such as wireless access, control, and routing nodes that provide wireless communication services for wireless communication devices. A typical wireless communication network includes systems to provide wireless access across a geographic region, with wireless coverage areas associated with individual wireless access nodes. The wireless access systems exchange user communications between wireless communication devices, service providers, and other end user devices. These user communications typically include voice calls, data exchanges, web pages, streaming media, or text messages, among other communication services. In some examples, the wireless access nodes may experience congestion as more users and bandwidth are required for a particular region. However, when the congestion occurs, it is often difficult to quickly respond with policies that alleviate some of the congestion issues.
In at least one form of communication between two endpoint systems, transmission control protocol (TCP)/Internet Protocol (IP), together TCP/IP, may be used for the communication. TCP/IP is the suite of communication protocols to connect two end point devices on the internet. In some implementations of TCP/IP, explicit congestion notification (ECN) may be used as an extension to the suite to allow end-to-end notification of network congestion without dropping packets. ECN is an optional feature that is only used when both of the end points in the communication support the notification and are willing to use the notification. Thus, in some examples, the bits that are reserved for ECN flags may go unused.
Overview
Examples disclosed herein provide systems, methods, and software to communication policies based on congestion. In one example, a method of operating a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network includes, in a LTE base station, identifying congestion data for one or more communication wireless communication devices, and identifying that the congestion data meets a congestion criteria. The method further includes, in the LTE base station and responsive to meeting the congestion criteria, setting an explicit congestion notification (ECN) flag for a wireless communication device communication, and transferring the ECN flag for delivery to a LTE gateway. The method further provides, in the LTE gateway, receiving the ECN flag, and identifying a congestion policy for the at least one wireless communication device communicating over the LTE base station.